Wedding food, can you help with ideas please?

[lilibet]

I'm helping a friend plan her wedding and we are up to food. We are hiring an outside caterer as the wedding reception will be in a tipi. What she wants are round tables to seat 8 - 10 and then food to share in the middle.

It's going to be a summer wedding so Indian is out, my initial thoughts apart from a chinese banquest are an anti pasti type platter for starters, I'm totally stuck on the main and I thought an eton mess would be good for pudding followed by cheese and biscuits.

Any ideas which would include stuff for veggies?

thanks

How about whole poached salmons and cooked hams as the main 'bulky' stuff. And things like grilled haloumi for vegetarian options. I have some lovely salad 'recipes' that are more exciting than bog standard ones iyswim and that can also be made in advance. Eton Mess is a great pud, but really ought to be put together last minute. How about (as well) a Summer Fruit Terrine like this one - very easy, very delicious and rather impressive. Also have an amazing white chocolate and amoretti biscuit parfait with a raspberry coulis recipe which is delicious, and looks good too.

How about a huge bowl of cous cous, a meat tagine and a veggie tagine and some salads, pitta etc on each table? That way there would be no need for a separate starter as it could all be mixed and matched.

I think an Indian banquet would be brilliant too, Summer or not - I don't like Chinese and it is v v bad for veggies on the whole.

I'm veggie & had my favourite foods on our (summer) menu. Stilton salad followed by falafel with avocado and pine nut salad. Then stawberries & cheesecake

Middle Eastern theme?

Starter - shared mezze of hummus, pittas, olives, aubergine dip, tzaziki

Main: dishes of:
Lamb tagine
Chicken with honey and almonds
Falafel
cous cous
Salad with lemony dressing

Pudding - almond ice cream with peaches

Claudia Roden's cookbook is brill

Or what about roasts that guests carve at the table themselves, to have with salads or veg or in sandwiches? Veggies could have either a nut roast-type thing, or if you go with salads, they could have a selection of roast veg?

One particularly nice roast is pork for people to make sandwiches with apple sauce and rocket.